VK closes ICQ

From June 26, 2024, ICQ will suspend its operations, as announced on its official website. Instead, VK will focus on developing its products — “VK Messenger” and VK Workspace, aimed at the business sector. The team previously involved in the development of ICQ will work on these services.

After the reorganization of the DST fund, which acquired the messenger in 2010 for $187.5 million from American AOL, ICQ was taken over by VK. The company did not provide information about the number of its audience. According to Mediascope in January 2020, ICQ was used by 439 thousand people in Russia. In 2020, the messenger was relaunched with the addition of new features such as quick replies and the ability to create bots.
In 2022, ICQ was scheduled for another update, but the company just released its own VK Messenger instead.
Another update was planned for 2022, but the company just released its own VK Messenger instead.